OLDTIME DISCIPLINE
_My child and scholar take good heed
unto the words that here are set,
And see thou do accordingly
or else be sure thou shalt be beat._
--_The English Schoolmaster. Edward Coote, 1680._
The manner of oldtime children differed as much from the carriage of
children to-day as the severe and arbitrary modes of discipline of
colonial days differed from the persuasive explanations, the moral
inculcations and exhortations by which modern youth are influenced
to obedience. Parents, teachers, and ministers chanted in solemn and
unceasing chorus, "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child,"
and they believed the only cure for that foolishness was in stern
repression and sharp correction--above all in the rod. They found
abundant support for this belief in the Bible, their constant guide.
John Robinson, the Pilgrim preacher, said in his essay on _Children
and Their Education_:--
"Surely there is in all children (though not alike) a stubbernes
and stoutnes of minde arising from naturall pride which must in
the first place be broken and beaten down that so the foundation
of their education being layd in humilitie and tractablenes
other virtues may in their time be built thereon. It is
commendable in a horse that he be stout and stomackfull being
never left to his own government, but always to have his rider
on his back and his bit in his mouth, but who would have his
child like his horse in his brutishnes?"
The chief field of the "breaking and beating down" process was in
school. English schoolmasters were proverbial for their severity,
and from earliest days; though monks with their classes are never
depicted with the rod.
We find Agnes Paston, in 1457, writing to London for word to be
delivered to the schoolmaster of her son Clement, who was then
sixteen years old:--
"If he hath nought do well, nor wyll nought amend, pray hym that
he wyll trewly belassch hym, tyll he wyll amend; and so did the
last master, and the best that ever he had, at Cambridge. And
say I wyll give hym X marks for hys labor, for I had lever he
were beryed than lost for defaute."
[Illustration: Katherine Ten Broeck, Three Years Old, 1719]
She herself had "borne on hand" on her marriageable daughter;
beating her every week, sometime twice a day, "and her head
broken in two or three places." This seems to have been the usual
custom of the British matron in high life. Lady Jane Grey, when
she was fifteen years old, never came into the presence of her
father and mother but she was "sharply taunted, cruelly threatened,
yea, punished sometimes with pinches, nips, bobs, and other way."
Elizabeth, Lady Falkland, as long as her mother lived, always spoke
to that rigid lady while kneeling before her, "sometimes for more
than an hour together, though she was but an ill kneeler, and worse
riser." Poor Elizabeth! she was an only child, "an inheritrice"; but
she could truthfully aver she never was spoiled.
An early allusion to school discipline is in the _Boy Bishop's
Sermon_ from the press of Wynkyn de Worde, who died in 1535. It runs
thus:--
"There is no fault he doth but he is punished. Sometimes he
wringeth him by the ear, sometimes he giveth him a strype on the
hand with the ferrul, sometimes beateth him sharply with the
rod."
Great Cromwell was sent off to school with injunctions to the
master, Dr. Beard, to flog the boy soundly "for persisting in the
wickedness of the assertion" that he had had a vision and prophecy
of his future greatness. Dr. Johnson told of the unmerciful
beating he had by one Master Hunter, who was "very wrong-headedly
severe." He said the man never distinguished between ignorance
and negligence, and beat as hard for not knowing a thing as for
neglecting to know it, and as he whipped would shout, "This I do to
save you from the gallows." Still the Doctor was grateful for the
beatings, as he felt to them he owed his knowledge of Latin; and he
approved of the rod, saying of some well-behaved young ladies whose
mother had whipped them oft and heavily, in variation of one of
Shakespeare's lines, "_Rod_, I will honor thee for this thy duty."
His creed of correction was this:--
"I would rather have the rod to be the general terror to all,
to make them learn, than to tell a child, if you do this, or
thus, you will be more esteemed than your brothers and sisters.
The rod produces an effect which terminates in itself. A child
is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task, and there's an
end on't. Whereas, by exciting emulation and comparisons of
superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you
make brothers and sisters hate each other."
The illustrations of old Dutch books that show school furniture,
have the odd ferules of monkish days, the flat ladle-shaped
pieces of wood which were distinctly for striking the palm of the
scholar's hand. The derivation of the word "ferule" is interesting.
It is from _ferula_, fennel. The tough stalks of the giant fennel
of Southern Europe were used by the Roman schoolmasters as an
instrument of castigation.
[Illustration: 21. THE DUNCE.
This is a sight to give us pain, Once seen ne'er wished to see again.
Illustration from _Plain Things for Little Folks_]
Old English lesson books of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, many, even, of the early years of this century, that have
any illustrations of classes, schoolmasters, or school interiors,
invariably picture the master with a rod or bunch of birch twigs.
An old herbalist says:--
"I have not red of any vertue byrche hath in physick, howbeit it
serveth many good uses, and none better than for the betynge of
stubborn boyes, that either lye or will not learn."
Birch rods were tauntingly sold on London streets with a cry by
pedlers of "Buy my fine Jemmies; Buy my London Tartars." Even that
miserable _Dyves Pragmaticus_ enumerated "Fyne Rod for Children of
Wyllow and Burche" among his wares. A crowning insult was charging
the cost of birch rod on schoolboys' bills; and in some cases making
the boy pay for the birch out of his scant spending money.
Birch trees were plentiful in America--and whippings too. Scholars
in New England were not permitted to forget the methods of
discipline of "the good old days." Massachusetts schools resounded
with strokes of the rod. Varied instruments of chastisement were
known, from
"A besomme of byrche for babes verye fit
To a long lasting lybbet for lubbers as meet."
A lybbet was a billet of wood, and the heavy walnut stick of one
Boston master well deserved the name. A cruel inquisitor invented
an instrument of torture which he termed a flapper. It was a heavy
piece of leather six inches in diameter, with a hole in the middle.
This was fastened by an edge to a pliable handle. Every stroke on
the bare flesh raised a blister the size of the hole in the leather.
Equally brutal was the tattling stick, a cat-o'-nine-tails with
heavy leather straps. The whipping with this tattling stick was
ordered to be done upon "a peaked block"--whatever that may be. That
fierce Boston disciplinarian and patriot, Master Lovell, whipped
with strong birch rods, and made one culprit mount the back of
another scholar to receive his lashing. He called these whippings
trouncings, the good old English word of the Elizabethan dramatists.
Another brutal Boston master struck his scholars on the head with
a ferule, until this was forbidden by the school directors; he
then whipped the soles of the scholars' feet, and roared out in an
ecstasy of cruelty, "Oh! the Caitiffs! it is good for them."
There was sometimes an aftermath of sorrow, when our stern old
grandfathers whipped their children at home for being whipped at
school, so told Rev. Eliphalet Nott.
[Illustration: Whispering Sticks]
Many ingenious punishments were invented. A specially insulting one
was to send the pupil out to cut a small branch of a tree. A split
was made by the teacher at the severed end of the branch, and the
culprit's nose was placed in the cleft end. Then he was forced
to stand, painfully pinched, an object of ridicule. A familiar
punishment of the dame school, which lingered till our own day, was
the smart tapping of the child's head with a heavy thimble; this was
known as "thimell-pie." Another was to yoke two delinquents together
in a yoke made with two bows like an ox yoke. Sometimes times a
boy and girl were yoked together--a terrible disgrace. "Whispering
sticks" were used to preserve quiet in the schoolroom. Two are shown
here, wooden gags to be tied in the mouth with strings, somewhat as
a bit is placed in a horse's mouth. Children were punished by being
seated on a unipod, a stool with but a single leg, upon which it
was most tiring to try to balance; they were made to stand on dunce
stools and wear dunce caps and heavy leather spectacles; they were
labelled with large placards marked with degrading or ridiculous
names, such as "Tell-Tale," "Bite-Finger-Baby," "Lying Ananias,"
"Idle-Boy," and "Pert-Miss-Prat-a-Pace."
One of Miss Hetty Higginson's punishments in her Salem school at the
beginning of this century was to make a child hold a heavy book,
such as a dictionary, by a single leaf. Of course any restless
motion would tear the leaf. Her rewards of merit should be also
told. She would divide a single strawberry in minute portions among
six or more scholars; and she had a "bussee," or good child, who was
to be kissed.
Many stories have been told of special punishments invented by
special teachers. The schoolmaster at Flatbush was annoyed by the
children in his school constantly using Dutch words, as he was
employed to teach them English. He gave every day to the first
scholar who used a Dutch word a little metal token or medal. This
scholar could promptly transfer the token to the next child who
spoke a Dutch word, and so on; thus it went from hand to hand
through the day. But the unlucky scholar who had the token in his
possession at the close of school, received a sound whipping.
An amusing method of securing good lessons and good behavior was
employed by old Ezekiel Cheever, and was thus told by one of his
pupils, Rev. John Barnard:--
"I was a very naughty boy, much given to play, in so much that
Master Cheever openly declared, 'You, Barnard, I know you can do
well enough if you will, but you are so full of play you hinder
your classmates from getting their lessons, therefore if any of
them cannot perform their duty, I shall correct you for it.' One
day one of my classmates did not look at his book, and could not
say his lesson, though I called upon him once and again to mind
his book. Whereupon our master beat me.... The boy was pleased
with my being corrected and persisted in his neglect for which I
was still beaten and that for several days. I thought in justice
I ought to correct the boy and compel him to a better temper;
therefore after school was done I went to him and told him I had
been beaten several times for his neglect and since master would
not correct him, I would, and then drubbed him heartily."
The famous Lancasterian system--that of monitorial
schools--discountenanced the rod, but the forms of punishment were
not wholly above criticism. They were the neck-and-hands pillory,
familiar up to that date in England and America as a public
punishment of criminals; wooden shackles; hanging in a sack; tying
the legs together; and labelling with the name of the offence
against rules.
[Illustration: 12. Falsehood Punished.
Illustration from _Early Seeds to Produce Spring Flowers_]
I have found nothing to show that Dutch schoolmasters were as severe
as those of the English colonies. Dr. Curtius, the first master of
the Latin School in New Amsterdam, complained that "his hands were
tied as some of the parents of his scholars forbade him punishing
their children," and that as a result these unruly young Dutchmen
"beat each other and tore the clothes from each other's backs." The
contract between the Flatbush Church and schoolmaster, dated 1682,
specifies that he shall "demean himself patient and friendly towards
the children."
The discipline of Master Leslie, a New York teacher of the next
century, is described by Eliza Morton Quincy in her delightful
_Memoirs_. The date is about 1782:--
"His modes of punishment would astonish children of the present
day. One of them was to hold the blocks. They were of two sizes.
The large one was a heavy block of wood, with a ring in the
centre, by which it was to be held a definite number of minutes,
according to the magnitude of the offence. The smaller block
was for the younger child. Another punishment was by a number
of leathern straps, about an inch wide and a finger long, with
which he used to strap the hands of the larger boys."
One German schoolmaster, Samuel Dock, stands out in relief in this
desert of ignorance and cruelty. With simplicity and earnestness he
wrote in 1750 the story of his successful teaching, as in simplicity
and earnestness he had taught in his school at Shippack. His story
is as homely as his life:--
"HOW I RECEIVE THE CHILDREN IN SCHOOL.
"It is done in the following manner. The child is first welcomed
by the other scholars, who extend their hands to it. It is then
asked by me whether it will learn industriously and be obedient.
If it promises me this, I explain to it how it must behave; and
if it can say its A. B. C.'s in order, one after the other, and
also by way of proof, can point out with the forefinger all the
designated letters, it is put into the A-b, Abs. When it gets
thus far, its father must give it a penny and its mother must
cook for it two eggs, because of its industry; and a similar
reward is due to it when it goes further into words; and so
forth."
He made them little presents as prizes; drew pictures for them;
taught them singing and also musical notation; and he had a plan to
have the children teach each other. He had a careful set of rules
for their behavior, to try to change them from brutish peasants to
intelligent citizens. They must be clean; and delinquents were not
punished with the rod, but by having the whole school write and
shout out their names with the word "lazy" attached. Letter-writing
was carefully taught, with exercises in writing to various people,
and to each other. Profanity was punished by wearing a yoke, and
being told the awful purport of the oaths. He taught spelling and
reading with much Bible instruction; but he did not teach the
Catechism, since he had scholars of many sects and denominations;
however, he made them all learn and understand what he called the
"honey-flowers of the New Testament."
In order to appreciate his gentleness and intelligence, one should
know of the drunken, dirty, careless, and cruel teachers in other
Pennsylvania schools. One whipped daily and hourly with a hickory
club with leather thongs attached at one end; this he called the
"taws." Another had a row of rods of different sizes which, with
ugly humor, he termed his "mint sticks." Another, nicknamed Tiptoe
Bobby, always carried a raccoon's tail slightly weighted at the
butt-end; this he would throw with sudden accuracy at any offender,
who meekly returned it to his instructor and received a fierce
whipping with a butt-end of rawhide with strips of leather at the
smaller end. One Quaker teacher in Philadelphia, John Todd, had such
a passion for incessant whipping that, after reading accounts of his
ferocious discipline, his manner and his words, the only explanation
of his violence and cruelty is that of insanity.
[Illustration: Cathalina Post, Fourteen Years Old, 1750]
There is no doubt that the practice of whipping servants was common
here, not only children who were bound out, and apprentices and
young redemptioners, but grown servants as well. Occasionally the
cruel master was fined or punished for a brutal over-exercise of his
right of punishment. At least one little child died from the hand
of his murderous master. In Boston and other towns commissioners
were elected who had power to sentence to be whipped, exceeding
ten stripes, children and servants who behaved "disobediently and
disorderly toward their parents, masters, and governours, to the
disturbance of families and discouragement of such parents and
governours." In Hartford, Connecticut, a topping young maid felt the
force of a similar law:--
"Susan Coles for her rebellious cariedge towards her mistris
is to be sent to the house of correction, and be kept to hard
labour and coarse dyet, to be brought forth the next Lecture Day
to be publicquely corrected and so to be corrected Weekly until
Order be given to the Contrary."
Scores of similar records might be given. Judge Sewall, in his
diary, never refers to punishing his servants, nor to any need of
punishing them. There is some evidence of their faithfulness and of
his satisfaction in it, especially in the references to his negro
man servant, Boston, who, after a life of faithful service, was
buried like a gentleman, with a ceremonious funeral, a notice of his
death in the _News Letter_, a well-warmed parlor, chairs set in
orderly rows, cake and wine, and doubtless gloves.
John Wynter was the head agent of a London company at a settlement
at Richmond's Island, in Maine. His wife had an idle maid, and some
report of her beating this maid was sent back to England. Wynter
writes:--
"You write of some yll reports is given of my Wyfe for beatinge
the maide: yf a faire way will not doe yt, beatinge must
sometimes vppon such idle girrels as she is. Yf you think yt
fitte for my Wyfe to do all the work and the maide sitt still,
and shee must forbear her hands to strike then the work will lye
vndonn.... Her beatinge that she hath had hath never hurt her
body nor limes. She is so fatt and soggy shee can hardly doe any
work. Yf this maide at her lazy tymes when she hath bin found in
her yll accyons doe not disserve 2 or 3 blowes I pray you who
hath the most reason to complain my Wyfe or maide. My Wyfe hath
an vnthankful office."
[Illustration: Illustration from "Young Wilfrid"]
It has surprised me that this complaint--and others--should have
been sent home to England, where (as we have abundant evidence) the
whipping of servants was excessive and constant. Pepys and other
old English authors make frequent note of it. Pepys whipped his
boy till his arm was lame. The _Diary of a Lady of Quality_ gives
some glimpses of this custom. On January 30, 1760, Lady Frances
Pennoyer writes at her home at Bullingham Court, Herefordshire, that
one of her maids spoke in the housekeeper's room about a matter that
was not to the credit of the family. My lady knew there was truth in
what the girl said, but it was not her place to speak of it, and she
must be taught to know and keep her place.
The diarist writes:--
"She hath a pretty face, and should not be too ready to speak
ill of those above her in station. I should be very sorry to
turn her adrift upon the world, and she hath but a poor home.
Sent for her to my room, and gave her choice, either to be well
whipped or to leave the house instantly. She chose wisely I
think and with many tears said I might do what I liked. I bade
her attend my chamber at twelve.
"Dearlove, my maid, came to my room as I bade her. I bade her
fetch the rod from what was my mother-in-law's rod-closet, and
kneel and ask pardon, which she did with tears. I made her
prepare, and I whipped her well. The girl's flesh is plump and
firm, and she is a cleanly person, such a one, not excepting my
own daughters who are thin, and one of them, Charlotte, rather
sallow, as I have not whipped for a long time. She hath never
been whipped before, she says, since she was a child (what can
her mother and the late lady have been about I wonder?), and she
cried out a great deal."
Poor little Dearlove, fair and plump, and in bitter tears--you make
a more pleasing picture seen through the haze of a century than
fierce my lady with her rod.
The many hundred pages of Judge Sewall's diary give abundant
testimony of his tender affection for his children. In this record
of his entire married life he but twice refers to punishing his
children; once his son was whipped for telling a lie, a second time
he notes the punishment thus:--
"1692, Nov. 6. Joseph threw a knob of Brass, and hit his sister
Betty upon the forehead so as to make it bleed; upon which, and
for his playing at Prayer-time, and eating when Return Thanks I
whip'd him pretty smartly. When I first went in, call'd by his
Grandmother, he sought to shadow and hide himself from me behind
the head of the Cradle, which gave me the sorrowful remembrance
of Adam's carriage."
It was natural that Judge Sewall, ever finding symbols of religious
signification in natural events, should see in his son Joseph's
demeanor a painful reminder of original sin; and we can imagine with
what sad sense of duty he whipped him.
It is the standard resort of ignorant writers upon Puritanism, and
especially upon Puritanic severity, to give the name of Cotton
Mather as a prime expositor of cruel discipline. I have before me a
magazine illustration which represents him, lean, lank, violent,
and mean of aspect, with clipped head, raising a heavy bunch of rods
over a cowering child. He was in reality exceedingly handsome, very
richly bewigged, with the full, distinctly sensual countenance of
the Cottons, not the severe ascetic features of the Mathers, and he
as strongly opposed punishment by the rod as most of his friends and
neighbors favored and practised it. His son wrote of him:--
"The slavish way of education carried on with raving and kicking
and scourging, in schools as well as in families, he looked
upon as a dreadful judgment of God on the world: he thought the
practice abominable and expressed a mortal aversion to it.
"The first chastisement which he would inflict for any ordinary
fault, was to let the child see and hear him in an astonishment,
and hardly able to believe that the child would do so base a
thing. He would never come to give the child a blow, except in
case of obstinacy, or something very criminal. To be chased for
a while out of his presence he would make to be looked upon as
the sorest punishment in his family."
There can be found episodes of colonial history where the
disprejudiced modern mind can perceive ample need of the sharp
whippings so freely bestowed upon dull or idle scholars and
slow servants. Cotton Mather was too gentle and too forbearing
toward certain children with whom he had close relations. A "warm
birch" applied in the early stages of that terrible tragedy, the
Salem Witchcraft, to Ann Putnam, the protagonist of that drama,
would doubtless so quickly have ended it in its incipiency as to
obliterate it entirely from the pages of history.
[Illustration: William Verstile 1769]